egg layers

[wooziegoose]

hey guys, i noticed in alot of pictures on this forum and other forums that there seems to be alot of hens being killed. i was just wondering if the bag limit on hens is different in other states. in wisconsin its only one a day (for mallards). in our little group of hunters we try our hardest not to shoot any hens. in fact we keep track of who shoots them and its to the point where its actually embarrasing to have alot marked down by your name. i guess i would rather not get my limit and have all drakes than shoot my limit with a bunch of hens. after all, more hens means more eggs!! i know its hard in the early part of the season since the drakes dont have their full plumge, so we'll shoot some by accident once and a while. just wandering if people feel differently in different areas.

[ganderlander1]

Yes the limit on hens is differant in each state. In illinois this year you can kill 2 a day. I agree to lay off the hens in less I can help it. I think for most people they shoot them by accident. I definatley like the idea of keeping track of who shoots the most hens.

[Richie]

I feel the same way. Opening day we go out and shoot our limit since its opening day and the excitement is there but after that the guys i usually hunt with will try our hardest not to shoot hens. Since we dont get the ducks here you guys in the midwest do we figure thats more for next year. We only take a hen if we need a pair to be mounted. Unfortunatly not everone else thinks that way, but everyones ethics are different.

[Duck Hunter Paul]

I totally agree with you about shooting hens but (there is always a but right guys) how have the geese done so well. Unless some of you guys have figured out how to discern sexes in geese in flight.

Hens don't magically make eggs, the Drakes have a little to do with the process right.

Just playing Devils Advocate, like I said I agree with you. Just seems wierd to me about the goose population not being in decline anywhere.

[Killer Miller]

Well I know that one of the reasons for shooting some hens in pictures that I have posted is that we are coming up guns blazing when legal shooting time arrives and its hard to identify drakes/hens. I know we could wait and shoot later but the good shooting as we all know comes early in the morning when the birds cant see so well and decoy closer. I also know that just in the past week or 2 have the drakes been easy to identify. We are in the part of the season now where drakes are very visible and we will start killing a very high percentage of drakes. Oh and as far as limit of hens goes, here in Iowa the daily limit on mallards is 4 of which only 2 may be hens.

[wooziegoose]

ganderlander, i forgot to metion that at the end of the season who ever has the most hens has to buy the other guys dinner. nothin like a free dinner every year.

duck hunter paul, i agree its weird how the goose population doesnt decline. im guessing alot of the geese shot are females. oh well, mother nature is a mysterious lady!!

[kingkilla]

i concure with killer miller about shootin early. but im going to be honest, if i knew that i could shoot all drakes and get a daily bag limit then i would. but most the time its hard to get limits and i take what i can get.

[h20fowler]

It's all about agenda boys. Any one person can post any one fact and make it fit their agenda. I read a study the other day that said the harvesting of hens decreased duck numbers, and gave the reason why. Then on the next line they pointed out that mallard populations rose 30 some % the year after Arkansas increased their hen limit from 1 to 2. So in theory, if one was shooting more hens why would the total population raise the following year. It is contradictory and does not equal out to anything they just said.

Another study says that by shooting drakes, you are in turn killing hens as there are no drakes left to protect the nest and hen from predators. Therefore the owls, hawks, you name it are wreaking havoc on the hens in the spring. So by killing the drake instead of the hen you killed 22 birds (drake, hen, 20 offspring) instead of 21 (hen, 20 offspring).

So once there are a lot of facts in the air and everything is clear as mud the conservation conversation comes up. They will go as far as to point out that they are a conservationist and by exercising voluntary restraint s they are following a strict ethical guideline. Yet this same Ethical conservationist will be the first one to shoot teal before plumage making identifying the drakes near impossible. They shoot geese all season long. They also have no problems shooting a doe in deer season. And I'm sure they don't determine what sex a fish is before they take it home for the skillet. So by doing these things they just hung themselves with their own rope.

What do I believe? I don't buy into the killing hens kills birds theory. I am a voluntary restraint hunter that typically goes for drakes. Why, because I choose to. And honestly, I take a lot of younger people hunting that are not as quick to identify birds on the fly. So when they mess up, they have a spot in my limit for their proud moment.

[h20fowler]

wooziegoose - I like your idea with the money into a pot for shooting hens. I have seen that other places as well. But I have a suggestion. Instead of making him take everyone out for dinner why not put that money towards nesting boxes or something of the sort so the hens you passed on have a place to nest? (Please do not take that as a direct shot at you. That was not my intention.)

Just an example. Everybody gets a tally mark for every hen they shoot. At the end of the year every mark is $5. You pay in your amount to the pool and off to the hardware store you go.

[Duck Hunter Paul]

H2O

What is a conversationalist?

[h20fowler]

someone that likes to talk! :lol:

thanks for pointing that out. Fat fingered that one and spell check gave me the wrong word.

[Duck Hunter Paul]

Why did you change it, I kinda liked it.

I know a few of them conversationalist types, they never shut up :lol:

[h20fowler]

hey know... lets stick to the topic at hand! And I am guilty of being a conversationalist! :oops:

[Maulers INC.]

This is a quote from our waterfowl guide: limit 6, of these up to 5 can be mallards but no more than 2 can be female.

[IowaMigr8tor]

Welll i wouldnt get that crazy with fining your buddies for shooting hens. Also if your only killing Drakes then you arntt donating the much $$$ to those groups?

[rooster]

With our group you are fined $5.00 for every hen you shoot and at the end of the year we donate it to Delta Waterfowl or duck unlimited!